CBI hunts 400 who deposited certificates for rly jobs

The applicants are believed to be reluctant to approaching the CBI now,fearing possible arrest. “We are still investigating and are not sure how many more would fall in our radar. Only after we inspect the role of these candidates will we be able to make them accused or witnesses,” the CBI officer said.

Ten persons including Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) chairman S M Sharma and his son Vivek Bhardwaj have been arrested so far. Officers said immediately after the RRB exams on June 6 for locopilots (group-C staff),Hyderabad touts Ashok Kumar,J Rames,J Triupataiah and Raipur agent MRSN Murthy had begun collecting certificates from the applicants.

“During our raids we were intrigued at the number of certificates seized. We found that they had asked the applicants to deposit the certificates just as surety,” said an officer from Hyderabad.

Officials said AK Jagannatham,a co-accused and former additional divisional railway manager in Raipur,connived with RRB officials in Mumbai to secure a copy of the question paper before the exam for Rs1 crore and distributed copies to applicants.

A CBI official said the candidates were charged Rs3.5 lakh per copy and made to deposit their certificates with touts. The touts,in turn,deposited the certificates and the cash with Jagannatham. The question papers were leaked a day before the exam.

“These are original documents and we have to be particularly careful. As we need all the applicants to strengthen our case,we are diligently following up each and trying to record their statements while returning the documents,” said an officer.

The agency said Sharma and other officials of the railways never dealt directly with with the candidates. This was left to the middlemen.